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Today’s deck is becoming a favorite among Type I players as being THE deck to play come July. A new take on an old design, Trix is quickly becoming a deck you have to prepare for if you’re planning on doing well at GenCon this year.

based Trix deck is now sleek and stream-lined, punishing control decks with disruption, and beating aggro decks to the punch with speed. At first glance it might even seem unbeatable. We’ll talk more later about some of the decks weaknesses, as well as its strengths.

To begin with, most of the inherent problems that stem with a deck such as this begin with the mana base. Academy Rector

or two. This slows the acceleration of the deck and can usually cost you at least one game loss out of every three you play. For this reason, it’s almost a given that the deck can just dismantle itself despite your best attempts to wield it.

In my limited testing there have been situations where I had a Rector on the board with plenty of mana to cast the Illusions and Donate

while Rector smiled innocently in my direction. But I’m getting ahead of myself for those of us who haven’t seen the deck.

Here’s a list I’ve been using lately: (Incidentally the first I had heard of Rector-Trix was from the German website and Max Joseph (westerdale) of Team MeanDeck, the deck played very well for Tom van de Logt, shown here at: http://www.morphling.de/coverages/top8decks.php?id=35 in the Eindhoven tournament.)

The deck actually is very accomplished at doing exactly what it’s supposed to when it’s working correctly. If clicking, there are really no bad match ups for the deck, as control can’t stand the barrage of Therapy/Duress

As you can see, the deck has no cards present that don’t add to the focal point of the deck, which means there isn’t a lot of room for other cards. This also means that there is little room for error in a deck like this. Your games may be ridiculously redundant, but if you don’t know the deck completely those games can take a twist and ruin your day. Knowing the deck inside and out can reduce your chances of a loss after your opponent has thrown you for a loop.

Aside from the problems with the mana base, and the general acceleration of the deck, this deck does lose its momentum when one of its key components is dispatched; that is, taking out the Rector from the game before you can sack it, or removing the Therapies in the graveyard. When this happens you’ll find that Rector-Trix has a hard time regaining the steam it had built and often comes out on the bottom of a top-deck war. Don’t misunderstand me, this deck is fun to play and wins more than it loses, but its demise rests on its own unraveling.

Match-up Analysis - Sideboarding (Thanks to Stephen Menendian)

A. AGGRO

SLIGH or R/G

This match can get tricky after sideboard, as a smart Sligh player will know that they wait for you to cast the Illusions and then put your life gain on the stack before they blast it with a Red Elemental Blast

You’re most likely to play U/R Phid if you run into either of these and each of them act on the same premises…counter all your spells. The break you finally get here is that you don’t have to worry about someone messing with your lands via Wasteland

I don’t want to say the mirror comes down to luck. I firmly believe that there are combo players and there aren’t. I’m not a combo player. Prerequisite to being combo player: You have to like sitting alone, you like shuffling, you don’t mind death threats, you’re okay with taking 30 minute turns and you’re still not convinced Magic is a game between two people.

This is the second deck in the Road to Vintage Championship series. Hopefully when I’ve finished this, (before the actual tournament with some luck) you’ll be able to look through the archives and be better prepared to face the metagame, or perhaps choose the deck you’d like to play.

As always, send me a line if you have any ideas on the deck or other decks you believe need to be covered, as I’ll be busy working on the Hulk installment of Defeating the Metagame: The Road to Vintage Championships.

Viva,

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